HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Linux

Linux Installing

HOW-TO:Install Kodi for Linux

Installing Kodi on Ubuntu-based distributions with Team Kodi PPA

Please note that currently the Team Kodi PPA is not maintained due to the previous sole maintainer stepping away from the responsibility.

For now the only options are building from source, using Flatpak or a distro such as Debian which includes Kodi in their distribution.

Ubuntu releases 16.04 LTS ("Xenial") or later, respectively, include their own Kodi builds in their official package repositories, customized to satisfy their interpretations of what is acceptable under their open-source mandates. If you have installed your distribution's Kodi packages, please purge them using the command sudo apt purge kodi\* before trying to install team-xbmc PPA packages.

Releases from Team Kodi PPA are NOT compatible with Debian GNU / Linux and distributions built on top of Debian's binary package repositories! Please refer to Debian section of this page for installation instructions on such distributions!

See SFTP or Click here to find out how to use the terminal.

Adding Team Kodi PPA repository

Use the command line terminal in Ubuntu, and enter the following commands. Follow the prompts as you would any other software installation.

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
sudo apt install kodi

The Kodi repositories are as follows:

Note: Although the URL still has "Team XBMC" in the title, these are the current URLs for Kodi.

https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/ppa	ppa:team-xbmc/ppa	Final release builds
https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/unstable	ppa:team-xbmc/unstable	Betas and release candidates
https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/xbmc-nightly	ppa:team-xbmc/xbmc-nightly	Nightly builds

Note that this PPA only provides builds for Ubuntu i386 and Ubuntu amd64 but not for Ubuntu armhf, which can run on a Raspberry Pi.

Installing binary add-ons (PVR, audio decoders, audio encoders, screensavers, visualizations, audio DSP)

See: Ubuntu binary add-ons

Installing a development build

See also: Development builds

To install a beta/unstable version of Kodi you must first add the unstable repository, then install XBMC. Use ppa:team-xbmc/xbmc-nightly for nightly builds and ppa:team-xbmc/unstable for beta builds.

sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/xbmc-nightly
sudo apt install kodi

Note that if you have any addons (such as PVR clients), these must be updated as well (they will not be updated automatically):

sudo apt install kodi-pvr-mythtv

Upgrading

To update Kodi when a new version is released, just do a general system/package or use the following commands in the terminal (or via SFTP):

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade --with-new-pkgs

Downgrading to a stable version from a development version

If you install a nightly build or an unstable release and want to return to a stable release, follow these instructions:

Remove the unstable or nightly PPA:

apt-cache policy | grep -Eo 'team-xbmc/(unstable|nightly)' | sudo xargs -r add-apt-repository -ryP

Then restore the stable version with the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get remove kodi kodi-x11
sudo apt-get install kodi

Downgrading between newer and older stable versions

If you want to return to the next most recent stable release, follow these instructions:

Remove the current stable packages and PPA:

sudo apt purge kodi\*
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

Then install the "oldstable" version with the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/kodi-old
sudo apt install kodi

Reverting to an earlier nightly

ALthough launchpad doesn't list older nightlies in their PPA, they are usually still available for download directly from the website. Visit the xbmc-nightly repository index, where you will then have to download the appropriate .deb files and manually install them using sudo dpkg -i [path to downloaded file].

Uninstalling

If you need to uninstall Kodi and purge its global configuration files (for instance, in the attempt to troubleshoot a persistent crash or other errors), do so by using the first of the following commands. If that fails to solve the issue, you will likely need to remove your user settings folder with all of your settings and library data to return to a state equivalent to what existed before Kodi was first installed on the system. This will not delete any videos or music, but just the settings and library data itself, but it is still recommended to keep a backup of them in case it's discovered that they weren't at issue and you are able to effect another solution. An example of how to accomplish a backup and then deletion of your user settings is provided on the last two lines, the highlighted one being responsible for making the backup which can thereafter be found in your home folder with the filename kodi-backup_timestamp.tar.xz.

sudo apt purge kodi\*
tar cf - "${HOME}/.kodi/" | xz -z9e - >"${HOME}/kodi-backup_$(date +%m%d%y-%H%M).tar.xz"
rm -Ri "${HOME}/.{kodi,xbmc}/"

Flatpak

If you do not know whether your distro supports Flatpak, see https://flatpak.org/setup/ for install instructions.

Then go to https://flathub.org/apps/tv.kodi.Kodi and hit the install button, or run the commands at the bottom of that page in a terminal.

Updates arrive through the normal Flatpak mechanism:

flatpak update

Data location

The Flatpak keeps all Kodi data, including your profile, add-ons and databases, under

~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi

Back up that directory before switching channels or trying out something new. The stable and beta builds share it.

Beta channel

Kodi betas are published on the Flathub beta remote. Add it once:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub-beta https://dl.flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo

Then install the beta:

flatpak install flathub-beta tv.kodi.Kodi//beta

The beta installs as branch beta alongside the stable version. A second entry labeled Kodi (Beta) appears on your system. Both share the data location above, so make a backup first if you value your data. flatpak update keeps both channels current.

To go back to stable only:

flatpak uninstall tv.kodi.Kodi//beta

Blu-ray menus (BD-J)

Most commercial Blu-ray discs use Java (BD-J) menus. Support is an optional extension so that the main app stays small. It is currently available on the beta channel:

flatpak install flathub-beta tv.kodi.Kodi.bdj//beta

Kodi does not open disc menus by default. Enable them under Settings → Player → Discs → Blu-ray playback mode → Show Blu-ray menu. The first Java menu can take ten to twenty seconds to appear while the runtime starts.

Encrypted Blu-ray discs (AACS)

Kodi ships libaacs but no keys. To install your key database, save a copy to:

~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/config/aacs/KEYDB.cfg

The filename must be uppercase. Discs that were already decrypted when backed up don't need this.

Log file

For bug reports, the log is at ~/.var/app/tv.kodi.Kodi/data/kodi.log.

Reporting issues

Problems specific to the Flatpak, such as missing permissions or add-ons that fail to load, go to https://github.com/flathub/tv.kodi.Kodi/issues. Include the log file above. General Kodi bugs belong on the Kodi forum as usual.

Embedded/Appliance type install

LibreELEC

Main page: LibreELEC

LibreELEC (short for "Libre Embedded Linux Entertainment Center") is small and very fast booting, open source JeOS (Just enough Operating System). LibreELEC is a complete media center software suite for embedded systems and computers, as it comes with a pre-configured version of Kodi and optional third-party PVR backend software.

Third Party Repositories

The instructions in this section are for unofficial Linux binaries that are un/semi supported by Team Kodi. Most of those binaries use system ffmpeg or even worse totally untested libav, which is not recommended for Kodi as we support ffmpeg only.

Debian

Debian GNU/Linux ships its own Kodi from Debian flavor with following changes:

• Only system libraries are used (no embedded third-party libraries except of libdvdread and libdvdnav)
• Old web interface (Chorus) is shipped to ensure Debian Free Software Guides (DFSG) compatibility

as well as a subset of Kodi binary addons packaged in main repository of Debian.

Team Kodi offers no official support to "Kodi from Debian"! Please refer to links below for support!

The support for Kodi from Debian is provided via the following channels:

1. Kodi from Debian - Support Thread on Kodi forums
2. Github issues
3. Debian Bug Tracker

Checking installed and available Kodi packages

You can check what versions of Kodi and its binary add-ons are installed with the following command:

dpkg -l | grep kodi

To check what versions of Kodi are available, use this command:

apt-cache policy kodi*

Installing Kodi on Debian Unstable or Testing

Installation of Kodi from Debian on Debian unstable ("sid") and testing is straightforward:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install kodi

To install Kodi binary add-ons (like PVR IPTV Simple, for example):

sudo apt install kodi-pvr-iptvsimple

NOTE: Make sure user running Kodi belongs to the following groups (for example, for user kodi)

$ groups kodi
kodi: cdrom,audio,render,video,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input

This needs to be done to ensure Video Acceleration API (VA-API) is properly initialized during Kodi start-up and videos playing get acceleration using VAAPI and not VDPAU on Intel or AMD cards. To add user to groups, use the command:

usermod -a -G cdrom,audio,render,video,plugdev,users,dialout,dip,input kodi

Installing Kodi on Debian 10 "buster"

By default, Debian buster users get Kodi 17.6 "Krypton". However, it is possible to get Kodi 19.x "Matrix" from buster-backports.

To get Kodi 17.6 and the corresponding add-ons, use the method described in Debian Unstable or Testing section above.

To get Kodi 19.x and the corresponding add-ons from Debian Backports:

# Add Debian Backports repository for Debian 10 "buster"
if ! apt-cache policy 2>/dev/null | grep -q "http://.*buster-backports"; then
  echo "deb http://deb.debian.org/debian/ buster-backports main contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/buster-backports.list
fi

# Update APT lists
sudo apt-get update

# Install Kodi from backports:
sudo apt-get install {kodi,kodi-bin,kodi-data,kodi-repository-kodi,libspdlog1}/buster-backports

# (OPTIONAL) Install Kodi binary add-ons (for example, 'PVR IPTV Simple'):
sudo apt-get install kodi-pvr-iptvsimple/buster-backports

Installing Kodi on Debian 9 "stretch"

By default, Debian stretch users get Kodi 17.1 "Krypton". No higher version is packaged in backports.

To get Kodi 17.1 and the corresponding add-ons, use the method described in Debian Unstable or Testing section above.

Raspberry Pi OS

See also: HOW-TO:Install Kodi on Raspberry Pi

Installing on Raspberry Pi OS is done with:

sudo apt-get install kodi

Upgrading on Raspberry Pi OS is done with:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Installation from source

If distribution packages are not available, or you need a newer version, or specific features enabled, then you will most likely need to compile from source. See our Compiling Kodi guide.